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The review into English football’s child sexual abuse scandal is investigating whether a paedophile ring operated in the game, it can be disclosed.

The inquiry into how the Football Association and the country’s clubs dealt with the alleged abuse of schoolboy players between 1970 and 2005 – and whether there was any cover-up – is also examining girls’ football during that period.

Almost six months after it was launched on the back of an avalanche of harrowing allegations at the end of last year, details can be revealed about the scope and status of the review into what FA chairman Greg Clarke admitted was the biggest crisis he could recall the game facing.

As well as looking at whether there was a network of paedophiles abusing young players and investigating both boys’ and girls’ football, that review will:

Examine up to five million documents held in an FA archive.

Investigate the use of gag clauses by clubs paying off alleged victims.

Scrutinise the role of officials from affected teams who also held positions at the FA.

Make recommendations about the governing body’s current safeguarding processes if it identifies weaknesses.

Report any evidence of criminal activity to the police.

Aim to publish its final report early next year.

Led by Clive Sheldon QC, the review was commissioned by the FA after the potential scale of the game’s child sexual abuse scandal became clear.

Its impact was highlighted again on Sunday night when the BBC’s 'Victoria Derbyshire' programme won the TV Bafta for news coverage following its emotional interviews with lead whistleblower Andy Woodward and other survivors.

A hotline set up in the wake of the scandal continues to receive calls, while the latest figures from Operation Hydrant, the police investigation into non-recent allegations of sexual abuse, shows it has had 1,432 referrals and has identified 560 victims aged between four and 20, 96 per cent of whom are male.

It has also identified 252 suspects, with 311 football clubs impacted – including several in the Premier League.

More alarmingly still, 46 of 187 alleged attacks since 1996 are said to have occurred between 2005 and 2016, outside the scope of the review.

Sheldon, appointed by the FA after concerns were raised about the independence of its original choice of review head, Kate Gallafent QC, last month completed the first phase of his work.

That involved Sheldon and a team of four barristers laying the groundwork for interviewing witnesses and examining documents between now and the autumn.

Although he has no power to subpoena evidence, anyone who fails to co-operate with the review faces being sanctioned by the FA.

It emerged on Monday night that eight professional clubs were facing that fate after failing to meet two deadlines to respond to a letter from Sheldon requesting any information they have that might be relevant.

As part of his work, Sheldon will seek to establish whether perpetrators acted independently or were part of a local or national paedophile ring, something some victims suspect but others doubt.

Meetings with several individuals have already taken place, including with representatives of survivors’ group the Offside Trust – with one also scheduled with the former players who front it.

Although the inquiry will have taken more than a year by the time Sheldon reports, it is understood no constraints have been placed on the cost of it to the FA, which is also fully aware its findings could open the governing body and clubs up to legal action by victims.

Clarke said last year: “When the report comes out, there may well be legal consequences and all of us in the game have to deal with that. Compensation will be a consequence of the facts that emerge.”

Running in parallel with the review is an independent audit of the FA’s current safeguarding practices by the NSPCC’s Child Protection in Sport Unit.

That audit will not stop Sheldon making his own observations about the status quo if he identifies any weaknesses.